WSH Licenses UCLA-developed Technologies
WaterStyle Holdings, Inc. (WSH) and the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) jointly announced the licensing of certain key intellectual property for use in the water sector. The property focuses on advanced water systems, services, and solutions for desalination, reclamation, reuse, and sustainability.
Under the terms of the license, WSH will have exclusive worldwide rights to this technology. This serves as the foundation for WSH's technology platform and systems capability.
Some of unique features of these water technologies include smart water systems deploying advanced remote monitoring and control, rapid process diagnostic systems and field testing, membrane process monitors, high performance nano-structured membranes for nanofiltration and reverse osmosis desalination, advanced processes for high recovery water desalination, and new methods for process optimization. The technologies developed by the UCLA WaTeR Center are pioneering technologies that have emerged from extensive multidisciplinary research and knowledgebase of fundamental science and technology.
"It is gratifying for us to have the opportunity to play a role in water technology transfer," said Yoram Cohen, Ph.D., professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and director of UCLA's WaTeR Center.
Cohen explained: "The collection of technologies developed by the WaTeR Center is unique in that it represents a multipronged approach to improve membrane-based water processing. For example, our approach to membrane process monitoring combines the use of direct optical imaging of the membrane surface with real-time image analysis and, for the first time, the quantitative use of such information for membrane plant control. Our novel surface nano-structuring process enables the creation of a high density and uniform polymer membrane surface "brush" layer that is tailored to reduce membrane mineral scaling propensity and provide added membrane fouling-resistance. This approach makes it possible to tailor-design membranes for challenging water treatment applications where mineral scaling and fouling can be devastating. Our research team also developed new process analysis and optimization approaches that make use of advanced artificial neural networks and model-based control and optimization to advance plant operation to reduce energy consumption and enable dynamic process optimization. Other important developments include accelerated chemical demineralization as an interstage in a two-stage membrane desalting process for high recovery (up to 98 percent) brackish water desalination."
"We are very pleased to have exclusively licensed these technologies from UCLA. Many of these applications are commercially ready. This integrated high-tech approach to water treatment and production technologies represents a paradigm shift that will enable the rapid development and deployment of advanced distributed water systems and retrofitting of existing systems to provide the growing demand for water in our nation and around the world," stated Joseph A. Boystak, WSH chair and chief executive officer.